When connecting pipelines or distributed plumbing in buildings or the like, it is common to attach pipe sections in end to end abutment with the pipes in proper alignment with one another. To achieve this alignment, various tools have been proposed as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,726,575 and 3,952,936 both to Dearman, U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,967 by Barber, U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,091 by Labit Jr, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,124 by Melanson. Typical prior art devices involve clamping about one of the pipe sections with pipe engaging members extending from the clamp to engage the other pipe section.
In each instance of the prior art noted above, the pipe engaging members frictionally engage the second pipe, which may cause damage to the second pipe as the second pipe is displaced relative to the first pipe during pipe alignment. The friction may also make it difficult to align the second pipe by rotation or longitudinal displacement relative to the first pipe so that accurate alignment is somewhat resisted by the frictional forces.
Another problem with many prior art pipe aligning tools is the limited ability to customize the number and location of pipe engaging members. For example U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,124 by Melanson (noted above) discloses a pipe aligning device which uses a chain to clamp a plurality of pipe engaging members onto a first pipe section so that they are suitably positioned for engaging and supporting a second pipe section to be aligned with the first pipe section. Any repositioning of pipe engaging members or the addition of another pipe engaging member if it is later found to be required, necessitates releasing the chain so that all support of the second pipe section relative to the first pipe section is lost. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,575 by Dearman (also noted above) similarly uses a chain to clamp about the first pipe section, but the pipe engaging members further require the chain to be threaded therethrough such that any repositioning of pipe engaging members or the addition of another pipe engaging member also necessitates releasing the chain.